Miami Hurricanes’ Davonte Brown relishes role of CB in Lance Guidry attacking D: “That’s where I excel”

The Lance Guidry defense is an aggressive, attacking D that blitzes from all angles and loves to confuse an offense. Which, in turn, puts a lot of pressure on the cornerbacks, who often are left to cover one-on-one down the field.

That’s a reason you saw Miami so active in the transfer portal at corner this year, adding Davonte Brown from UCF prior to the spring and then picking up Jaden Davis (Oklahoma), Ja’Dais Richard (Vanderbilt, can play CB or S) and JUCO CB Demetrius Freeney.

So far this fall it’s been Brown with the first team at boundary corner, with Te’Cory Couch on the other side (he played nickel last year). It’s Davis that has mostly worked in as the first team nickel.

Brown says in the Guidry defense that leave him one-on-one quite a bit that “That’s where I excel, I feel, playing man and man, being able to bump and run, knock receivers off their routes. I embrace the challenge. Just going out there, I feel like I’m in in my own world sometimes. I enjoy the challenge.”

For Brown, a starting role will be nothing new. He arrived at Miami with 36 games of playing experience, and in his time at UCF he had 91 total tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss, a sack, 21 pass deflections and a forced fumble. He had 30 tackles, two INTs and four PBU this past season, and he also started every game as a sophomore in 2021 and ended with 13 PBU and an interception. In 2020 as a freshman backup he had 23 tackles while starting five games.

In preparation for his role at Miami, Brown added seven pounds from the spring, up to 190.

“To keep that starting job I have to be a leader to those around me,” Brown told CaneSport. “I know the playbook, so just I have to be a consistent player at practice every day, do the little things right.”

As for Brown’s Pro Football Focus grades? Last year in 711 reps he graded out at 65.5 percent (70 is considered good) with a 63.6 cover grade and 46.7 tackle grade. In 2021 he had 763 reps at UCF and graded out at an elite 82.3 percent overall (84.0 cover grade, 55.7 tackling). In 2020 he played 411 reps and graded out at 66.5 (63.2 cover grade, 81.8 tackle grade). In 116 career targets he’s allowed 64 receptions for 838 yards and four TDs per PFF.

“(Since last year) what I worked on most was improving my flexibility, working on smaller muscle groups, just being able to improve overall and get in and out of breaks, tuning up footwork,” Brown said. “I did a lot of ball drills, everything.”

Also of note: Davonte’s younger brother, Damari, is a Miami freshman cornerback. Plus their father, Selwyn, is a former Hurricane.

“(Along with Damari) we are both students of the game,” Davonte said. “I’ll give him advice and the same when I’m out there, he’s watching me. Now he’s here with me, I take a rep and he tells me what I can do better. We both feed off each other, help each other when we’re both out there on the field.”

So how might this Miami cornerback room shape up this season off a year in which it was just so-so (allowed 20 TD passes and 233.1 yards per game with 14 INTs)?

“We have depth, added Jaden and Ja’Dais, who can be a big help,” Davonte said. “We will go out there and make plays.”

The post Miami Hurricanes’ Davonte Brown relishes role of CB in Lance Guidry attacking D: “That’s where I excel” appeared first on On3.